“The Silence” is a thriller/horror film based on the book by Tim Lebbon about blind creatures that hunt by sound. In the opening scenes we learn about how the creatures, known as Vesps, were released to wreak havoc on the world. Shortly after, we meet the main family: we have Ally (Kiernan Shipka) – a teen girl, deafened in a car accident; Hugh (Stanley Tucci) the father of the family; Kelly (Miranda Otto) the mum; Jude (Kyle Breitkopf) Ally’s brother; and Lynn (Kate Trotter) the grandma. Within about 15 minutes the news has broken about how dangerous these creatures are and that everyone should stay indoors and keep quiet. So the family decide to leave the busy and loud city to head into the country where things are naturally quieter and therefore safer.

Shipka, who you may have seen in Netflix Original “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, plays the part of a deaf teen incredibly well. She even learnt, and became fluent in, American Sign Language for the part. The other family members, aside from the dad, are also well cast and play their parts well. However I can’t help feeling that Tucci, playing the dad, comes across as wooden and unemotional. His reactions and expressions never seem to change even when his family is in danger and he is seeing winged creatures killing people around him…

As the story progresses we see more of the creatures and their killing spree and the struggles our family, and others, are having in reaching safety. They do have Ally though which is a great advantage; because of her deafness, she has learnt to live in silence and the family has learnt to adapt – they all speak sign language. So when they need to be silent then they can still communicate (the viewer gets subtitles for these parts).

The creatures themselves, or Vesps to give them their proper name, look great and they work really well in the film. The attacks and killings are not overly gory but there is a good amount of blood at times. Overall, the visuals and special effects are very well done.

Towards the end of the film we meet some new characters who are trying to persuade the family to join them. In my opinion this is the more interesting part of the film and I would have loved to have seen this aspect being expanded on. “The Silence” takes on a creepy, cult-like tone with some shocking reveals and some new challenges to overcome.

Overall I enjoyed “The Silence” – it was an enjoyable film did what it wanted to do without trying to be anything else. At a relatively short 90 minutes there are very few, if any, parts that can be construed as filler. The film, however, may annoy some people – it has a relatively sudden and open ending that leaves a lot of questions unanswered. This didn’t actually bother me though, I took it as being a snapshot of one part of their life and it is still a complete story in itself. I may hunt out the book at a later date to see how they compare.

Have you seen this film? Let us know your opinions in the comments below and of course if there are any films on Netflix UK you want us to review let us know!